“I made more income from one NFT drop than my 15 year career as a musician.” — RAC
❓ What You’ll Learn
- What are “headless” artists?
- Which CryptoPunk rapper earned $200,000 in 60 seconds?
- What tools exist to help artists create, sell and manage Music NFTs?
- What’s an example of a token-gated experience built by a musician?
- How are artists building experiences for their fans in the metaverse?
- What do Music NFTs grant you ownership to?
- How to align yourself with the success of your favorite artists?
💎 Why It Matters
You can align yourself with the success of your favorite artists.
🔍 Problem
Indie artists have few ways to monetize.
- Streams pay roughly $0.004 each. An immaterial amount unless you’re a large artist.
- Live performances take time, relatively large fan bases, planning and coordination.
- Music licensing deals (movies, tv shows, video games) are few and far between.
- Merch sales depend on building high-affinity relationships with lots of fans.
- Brand deals may be limited to well-known artists.
💡 Solution
Music NFTs help artists create without compromise. With help from superfans.
Latasha sold “GoGo Wyne” for 13.4207 ETH (≈ $41,000) to Jesse Grushack.
This is equivalent to 10,000,000+ streams.
🏁 Players
Music NFTs
- “GoGo Wyne.” by Latasha • Independent Artist using Zora • Sold for 13.4207 WETH
- “The Future Experience” by Lyrah • Indie Artist using Foundation • Sold for 0.27 ETH
- “NLM” by Devin Tracy • Soulection Artist using Catalog • Sold for 0.7 ETH
- “Too Close” by Daniel Allan • Indie Artist using Opensea • Sold for 0.99 ETH
- “Ford or A Hemi” by Supa Bwe • Indie Artist using Catalog • Reserved for 1 ETH
- “Barely Situated” by Abjo • Indie Producer using Opensea • Listed for 0.69 ETH
- “Commitment” by Iman Europe • Sweet Soul Records Artist using Opensea • Sold for 0.27 ETH
Music NFT Platforms
- Foundation • Web3 Platform for Creators and Collectors
- Audius • Music Streaming Service
- Zora • Protocol to Buy, Sell and Curate NFTs
- Catalog • Digital Record Shop
- Mint Songs • Music NFT Marketplace
- Royal • Music NFT Marketplace
- Opulus • Music Copyright NFT Platform
- Enter • Visual and Audio NFT Marketplace
- Sound • Collect Music NFTs
- Power • Web3 Music Platform
Music NFT Communities
- Water & Music • Research DAO for Music & Tech
- ModaDAO • Web3 Music Community
- Chill Pill • Decentralized Music Community
🔮 Predictions
- Music NFTs will be released from “headless” artists.
- Universal Music and BAYC launched 10:22pm with KINGSHIP as their first signee.
- Cryptoadz.show is an NFT rap duo created by Super Tight Woody to build a community through animated shows.
- Mig Mora created the first CryptoPunk rapper named “Spottie Wifi” and made $200,000 in 60 seconds.
- Non-Fungible Albums is a collection of 50 Cassettes and CDs created by fictional musicians from the 80s and 90s.
- Speculators will use chain analysis to decide which Music NFTs to buy.
- Tools like Dune.xyz will aid in research.
- Sound’s dashboard on Dune.xyz is an example.
- Soundpickr shows detailed revenue data for investing.
- Music NFTs will lead to a new category of music revenue reporting. The current model looks at streaming, digital downloads, physical sales and syncs.
- Grimes’ album sold 19,000 in a week. But her NFTs made $6,000,000 in 1 day.
- Kings of Leon made $2,000,000 in 2 weeksfrom an NFT album.
☁️ Opportunities
- Build tools to help artists create, sell and manage Music NFTs.
- PartyBid lets fanspool funds to buy NFTs.
- Zora helps creatives auction film, music videos and more.
- Sound helps artists build sustainable careers through Music NFTs.
- SHARE aims to help artists set “micropayment” prices for access to records.
- CreateOS gives artists and fans user-friendly visual agreements for Music NFTs.
- Build token-gated experiences. RAC grants access to music to token holders.
- Explore Music NFT onboarding and education resources.
- Water & Music is a one-stop shop for research on music and technology.
- NFT Now has a section dedicated to music and NFTs.
- Zora walks creators through the minting process.
- STOI aims to make splitting shares easier.
- Build audio, visual and in-person experiences.
- Sound hosts launch parties for new releases.
- Steve Aoki hosted a concert for AOK1VERSE members.
- Sigurros is offering an NFT and free entry to new community members.
- Lyrah’s “The Future Experience” gives owners 5% of streaming royalties and a chance to collaborate on a future record.
🏔️ Risks
- Legal or Lit? • Platforms make onboarding faster and easier. Be careful to avoid legal hiccups.
- Choosing Chains • There are trade offs to consider when choosing which chain to use. What’s more important to you? Security or transaction costs?
🔑 Key Lessons
- Fans will support artists regardless of the model. Nipsey Hussle sold 1,000 copies of Crenshaw for $100 in 1 night.
- Artists must understand the business of music and the creation of music to retain artistic freedom.
- NFTs do not prevent others from enjoying art. The more they enjoy it, the more valuable ownership becomes. This resembles a patronage model.
🔥 Hot Takes
- Fans will use Music NFTs as “proof of discovery.” A symbol to show how early they were to (and how much they) support their favorite artists.
- Unofficial fan clubs will emerge around Music NFTs. Owners will use tools like Guild to meet others who have skin in the game. See Tesla car clubs.
😠 Haters
“I can listen to music without buying NFTs.”
Sure. If you want more, Music NFTs offer unique experiences. Direct relationships with artists, early access to future drops and access to communities with other true fans.
“NFTs mean more hassle for musicians.”
Managing your career as an independent artist means more “hassle” and ownership. There’s no free lunch. Commitment to continued growth is a prerequisite for creative freedom.
“I don’t understand the value of Music NFTs. Do they give me royalties?”
There are patronage models and ownership models. Platforms like Royal focus on royalties. Music NFTs may prove to be more valuable as collectibles than financial instruments.
🔗 Links
- Who should I talk to about Music NFTs? • The tweet behind this report.
- 1,000 True Fans • An essay on superfans.
- Why Do NFTs Matter for Music? •A think piece on Music NFTs.
📁 Related Reports
- The Creator Economy • More musicians are opting out of “The Industry.”
- NFTs • There are several types of NFTs.
- Alternative Assets • Music NFTs may hold financial upside for artists and fans.
- Build in Public • Bring fans on the journey with you.
- Paid Communities • NFT ownership grants you access to “paid” communities.
🙏 Thanks
Thanks Cherie Hu, JAWAN.mp3, Lyrah, Azeem Khan, Candace Stewart, Stefan von Imhof, Asher Fishman, Arslane, Bogusz Pękalski, Maciej Cupial and Omari Harebin. We had a great time jamming on this report.
✏️ Devin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.
📈 What else?
Trends PRO #0085 — Music NFTs has more insights.
What you’ll get:
- 17 Music NFTs (142% More)
- 21 Music NFT Platforms (110% More)
- 6 Music NFT Communities (100% More)
- 7 Predictions (133% More)
- 10 Opportunities (150% More)
- 4 Hot Takes (100% More)
- 10 Links (233% More)
With Trends Pro you’ll learn:
- (📈 Pro) Which artist made $11,700,000 from a Music NFT?
- (📈 Pro) What are Soulbound NFTs?
- (📈 Pro) How to calculate the costs and benefits of record deals?
- (📈 Pro) Which company wants to become Shopify for NFTs?
- (📈 Pro) How do artists gamify Music NFT releases?
- (📈 Pro) What are examples of tickets as NFTs?
- (📈 Pro) How to manage and split royalties?
- And much more…
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